Meal Prep Like a Pro With This Genius Cookbook (All Meals are Gluten-Free & Affordable!)
Anyone else want to cook once and eat all week?
Getting healthy, fresh meals on the table each night is a struggle for me and can get very overwhelming. Juggling a busy work schedule while supervising Zoom school has me overloaded most weekdays, and I’ll admit I’m bad at meal planning. 😂 I sometimes have great intentions of prepping on weekends, yet often fail to, and then the week gets chaotic fast.
That’s why I was so excited to stumble upon this popular meal prep cookbook – Cook Once, Eat All Week: 26 Weeks of Gluten-Free, Affordable Meal Prep to Preserve Your Time & Sanity.
I first heard about this cookbook through my cousin, who started sharing her positive experience and meal prep on social media. I was instantly drawn to the idea of prepping once with a handy shopping list, and then quickly compiling fresh homemade meals during the week.
Side note – this post is not sponsored. I just wanted to share a book that really inspired me! Hopefully you’ll find this cookbook as helpful as I have when it comes to meal prep and making the most of your time in the kitchen.
How Cook Once, Eat All Week Works:
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- The book includes 26 weeks of easy, affordable, family-friendly meals that are also gluten-free.
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- Each week there is a meal plan featuring unique recipes around the same protein, veggies, and starch. You’ll get a detailed weekly grocery list to make 3 full meals and suggestions for 2 additional bonus meals.
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- On your meal prep day, there are detailed instructions on how to cook, steam, roast, or prep ahead all of the ingredients. You’ll then store all the items in separate containers so they’ll be ready to use when compiling meals during the week.
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- Each recipe will include items from the food you have prepared or cooked ahead of time, so you’ll be getting a fresh meal very quickly on the table.
Reasons I Love Cook Once, Eat All Week:
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- The recipes are gluten-free, and there are suggestions to help make things Paleo and dairy-free as well.
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- Even better, the recipes are easy to follow. There’s nothing worse than a recipe with a zillion steps and odd ingredients. These are simple, like the recipes I typically enjoy cooking!
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- Most importantly, everything has been great tasting so far! I get in a recipe rut, and this is such an efficient way to try new ones.
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- Anyone else have family members who are not fans of leftovers? This is not the type of plan that has you precooking everything and warming it up in the microwave, although you probably could. Your prep day will have you compiling super quick fresh meals during the week!
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- There are even instructions on how to prep using your Instant Pot or slow cooker on prep day. Yippee, I love using those methods for cooking!
What does a typical week look like?
Below I’ll highlight a few of the meals from one of the weeks in the book. The main ingredients in these recipes are ground beef, gold potatoes, and broccoli. The prep day really only took me maybe an hour or two, and it made compiling the meals super fast during the week.
Hip Tip: You could even make things go faster by having the weekly grocery list delivered through Instacart or order through Walmart grocery pickup!
1.) Bacon Burgers with Fries, Roasted Broccoli, and Twice Baked Fries
Who doesn’t love a flavorful burger? These were tasty with bacon, white cheddar, tomato, and avocado! I loved the roasted broccoli and fries so much! Yum!
2.) Cottage Pie
Meat and potato fans will love this easy ground beef and mashed potatoes recipe! Since I had steamed the potatoes and roasted the broccoli, I was able to just spread everything in the pan, and bake to warm up and melt together. This was very comforting and delicious! We loved it, and had some yummy leftovers to enjoy, too.
3.) Picadillo Tacos
This was my very favorite meal! The diced potatoes and picadillo sauce were so awesome in these tacos! I’ll be making this idea again for sure! We aren’t following a gluten-free diet and prefer flour tortillas, but you can use corn instead- yum!
I’m not the only fan of this book – it has 5 stars on Amazon with amazing reviews, too.
See what my fellow Hip2Save recipe developer Ashley had to say about Cook Once, Eat All Week:
Cook Once, Eat All Week has been a wonderful tool for helping our family eat healthy because I don’t have time to create a daily meal that may take 2-3 hours to prepare. My husband and I actually do the prep day together, and we haven’t had a bad meal yet.
Our favorite so far is Week 16, because the flavors are over the top delish! I love how all the recipes are so different, you don’t realize you’re eating the same 3 main ingredients all week long! Such a genius concept.
Pick up a copy of Cook Once, Eat All Week for under $20 on:
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- Amazon.com – get it fast with Prime shipping!
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- Target.com – score 5% off when you use your RedCard!
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- Walmart.com – get free delivery on orders of $35 or more!
Still not convinced? Check out these awesome reviews from our Hip2Save readers!
“I purchased this last time it was posted. The majority of the recipes have been winners for my family of 4. I spend about an hour on Sunday prepping for the week and then can quickly get healthy meals on the table during the week. I also have doubled many recipes and freeze the extra portion. After meal prepping for the past month, I have not only had easy weeks of home-cooked meals, but have also filled up my freezer!
Like any cookbook, some recipes have been more enjoyed than others, but it’s definitely gotten us out of our dinner rut! I also should mention, I like that recipes do not require tons of ingredients and/or weird things. Most things are already in my pantry or fridge (or can be easily substituted for something that is!)”
“I love this book! I got a copy just before Christmas and it was a lifesaver while taking care of my grandma who is so picky. She saw the cover one day and was like, ‘oh, gluten-free? You know all that gluten-free stuff tastes like 💩?’ I laughed and said, ‘well we’ve been eating from this for the last few weeks and you’ve loved it all, so it can’t be that bad.’ This method of prep and make works wonderfully for me!”
I bought this 6 months ago and my husband and I love it! I wish I had this in college. It saves me so much time and if I’m not feeling well my husband who can’t cook has no problem finishing dinner. I highly recommend it especially for busy lives.
Thanks Meg for sharing your experience!
Thank you so much for the recommendation. We are in a meal rut and this has given me inspiration. Meal prepping seems pretty intimidating but I’m hoping this will change my mind!
I can so relate to that! Sometimes it’s nice to just to have a list of groceries and instructions so I don’t have to over-think about what to make. lol ❤️👍
Has anyone tried the recipes using ground turkey on the recipes that call for ground beef? I typically substitute anyway but just curious on thoughts as to how the recipes tasted…TIA 🙂
Yes I only cook with ground turkey so you will be fine.
Is it meat everyday? I am more of a Monday meat day and the rest vegetarian.
Yes basically a meat, veggies, and starch.
Putting this on my Christmas wish list! So excited to meal prep with a cook book that is ALL gluten free (half of my family is celiac)!
Oh yes, then you could really use this! 👍
Celiac family here as well, this looks like a great option! Thank you!
Thanks for this! I just purchased for a gift and I can’t wait to receive it. May have to get one for myself!!!
Perfect! And yes- you’d love it too, I’m sure! And what a nice gift idea. – thanks for sharing.
There is no way I can eat food that was made a week earlier. I can barely stand next day leftovers.
Week long leftovers is questionable to me too.
They’re not leftovers. She specifically addresses that in the book. You prepare the ingredients in advance and prepare the meal on the day you want it
You had me at the title – going to buy this now!!
So I was super excited about the idea of this book, but after implementing it for about a week, I was a little disappointed. You spend so much time preparing everything, and then it still takes about 30 minutes to get dinner on the table every day. I don’t know, we’ve found with our family that every plate has been much easier. Spend the same amount of time each night with no big prep day! Everyone is different though, I’m glad others are enjoying the book 😊
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Meranda!
Thanks for feedback – I wondered about that because I’ve tried similar plans in the past.
I purchased this as a gift when you first posted about it and I was really happy with it!
Thanks for sharing!
I also purchased this last time it was posted. The majority of the recipes have been winners for my family of 4. I spend about an hour on Sunday prepping for the week and then can quickly get healthy meals on the table during the week. I also have doubled many recipes and freeze the extra portion. After meal prepping for the past month, I have not only had easy weeks of home-cooked meals, but have also filled up my freezer! Like any cookbook, some recipes have been more enjoyed than others, but it’s definitely gotten us out of our dinner rut! I also should mention, I like that recipes do not require tons of ingredients and/or weird things. Most things are already in my pantry or fridge (or can be easily substituted for some thing that is!)
Awesome – I love simple recipes too. Thanks for your feedback!
I’ve had this book awhile and I love it.
Perfect thanks for adding that!
I’m glad I read all the comments. I like the idea of prep ahead of time but I thought this was a, “prepare and eat all week,” deal. Now I really may get it. Thanks!
I love this book! I got a copy just before Christmas and it was a lifesaver while taking care of my grandma who is so picky. She saw the cover one day and was like ,”oh gluten free? You know all that gluten free stuff tastes like 💩?” I laughed and said “well we’ve been eating from this for the last few weeks and you’ve loved it all, so it can’t be that bad.”
This method of prep and make works wonderfully for me!
Lol 😂 I love that story!! I’m so glad it’s working out for ya ❤️
I am currently eating the loaded cauliflower casserole from week three. All recipes have been so good! Highly recommend this book.
That’s so great to hear! Thanks for sharing 👍
If you do a search for “planned over meals” you’ll find a lot of recipes like this. I learned when I lived on my own that I could take one small roast (or a package of ground meat or a rotisserie chicken) and make 3 very different meals from it. The Aldi weekly meal plans you’ve posted (and are still in the recipe section) are wonderful as well.
Thanks for the feedback Dee! Glad you like them. <3
I love the concept so on recommendation of a YouTuber, I borrowed it from the library. It was interesting but none of the recipes really intrigued me. You can see the first week or so as a preview in Amazon to try it. I think this could be a godsend for many but since I am not GF and already have an established pantry cook method, it wasn’t fitting for me.
Thanks for your helpful feedback Lindy!
I got through about 3 weeks but my little kids did not eat much. Sigh.
Aw darn. Thanks for sharing your feedback!
Loved the concept but did not care for the recipes at all.